What is your setup for Success?

[Fishin Fireman]

I know most guys hate giving out their secrets but isn't that what makes this the greatest ice fishing site around!

Here in Alaska we have so much hard water that most people don't mind sharing this stuff so we can all enjoy catching more fish. Besides it may help some Alaskan to catch a tourney topping bruiser.

I have been using a jig or a pimple baited and unbaited on one rod and just bait on the other using shrimp or salmon eggs to pink marshmellows or Berkley power bait. I have had success on the eggs usually, and sometimes shrimp if it stays on.

My buddies have a double setup with a baited jig on the bottom for weight and have a fly tied up about eight inches. I saw a 20"+ Bow caught on that setup, he hit the fly. So it appears that experimentation is the key.

I know that what we use here in the Interior may not work down south but then again whats used on one lake here or down there may not work in another either.

So if you don't mind sharing your setup reply to this using the following as a guide.

What Species it is used for

Jigged or statitonary

Tip up or rod

Depths fished

Unbaited or baited and bait used

Color(s)

Hook or jig sizes used

Times of day it is most productive

I myself will be trying a great number of combinations to improve on my fishing success and will be reporting back on their success or failure. Somethings are just beyond our control and if you know you have a good setup that has caught fish before then don't be afraid to get up and move around till you find a fish or two.

Fishing after all is a game of chance that we are in the right place at the right time, if it wasn't it would be called catching.

Heres to your success

The "Fishing Fireman" at your service.

[Grizzly1]

I think you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph, I do it almost everytime i hit the ice and thats experiment.

For Dollies/Charr/Rainbows and landlock salmon
-vari the jigging
-Rod
-5'-40',  15'-20' seems to be a sweet spot for me
-both, eggs(single and roe) cut herring, I like to strip it out and tip the hook or jig with it. 
-I tend to try and mimic the colors/size of their natural food-changes with the body of water, but charr seem to really like white or orange (Flo).  I always have blue, chart, green, white, gold/silver, perch/tiger and orange/pink just in case
-up to 1/2 oz jigs and 6-8 on plain hook-most times
-Early and mid day...sometimes I stay for that last light of the day bite.

I'm gonna be working on my pike and laker fishing this winter sooo......not much help with them here-hope this helps.

-Grizz

-Forgot the shrimp-I almost always have some shrimp  (added)

[Barleydog]

FF,  We'll just have to hook up soon!  I'd get cramps typing all that stuff! 

In brief, I think this may help too.

Char- Daylight hours use swedish pimps, or larger red or black jigs.  Usa glow in the evening into the night.  Fish til' 1100 pm with a flashbulb and Glow jigs tipped with shrimp, and not the cooked stuff if you can help it...

Salmon and bows- are the same for me.

Pike-  I like jigging and tip-ups.  soft jigs, croks, and best of all rapalas are killer on pike up here.  Otherwise, tipups when the weather allows it.  Try 30-40 flouro leaders with 1/0 hooks.  Herring is our only real choice, but if you can get some smelt or anchovies, good too.

Burbs- Large glow jigs, and tip-ups if your on Harding lake or other interior systems that allow bait.

Lakers-  Green pimples, b-2 squid, and bait.  Jig at 35 ft. for starts and slowly.

Whitefish under the ice-  If you find a great way to catch them let me know!

[KP_Alaska]

Hey All,

When fishing lakes I use a jig either flourescent white/green or white/red with raw shrimp not only does it stay on better but my boys used to eat the cooked stuff. Fred Meyers used to sell a seafood mix that had squid, octopus, baby clams and some other stuff, that always worked well.

I sometimes switch to a tube jig when the bait isn't working and usually get results at first, I've also tried some small rapala like jigs with hooks on both ends, can't remember the name of them right now.

I try to fish the points anywhere from 6' to 14' of water under the ice, I've always caught the bigger fish closer to the bottom.

I use a small rod, 24" made from supplies from Jann's Netcraft, cost less than $4 each, still using one I made in 1978.

Haven't paid much attention to time of day, but seems like I catch bigger fish when the light is fading. Looking outside I guess that would be 3 or 4 PM these days.

Its been quite a few years since I've fished for burbot. I used to fish either large eddies or mouths of clearwater creeks and rivers flowing into the Tanana. I always fished set lines with a large weight with 2 to 5 hooks on a  line trailing away from the weight in the current. The hooks would be 18" to 24" apart and baited with herring or fish heads from lake caught rainbows or silvers or chicken livers when nothing else was available.

Haven't done much pike or lake trout fishing to date, but plan on changing that this year.

[Barleydog]

Dust off those ol' spots KP and let's get um!   I forgot about squid!  Natures trout candy.